Monday, June 6, 2011

Do what you like: Like what you do

It’s funny. I try to mug up statistics and understand quotes. Now I can either try to understand statistics and mug up quotes. Or I could just ignore the statistics altogether and focus on my quotes. There is no argument over which is better, Mugging up Or Understanding. When you can understand and are eager to understand, things just click. You can forget all about the slog of mugging up. Things will be still crystal clear, long after you are done with the exam.

If you have the courage to do what you want, you wouldn’t have worked a single day in your life though you would have become the most successful person in the world by the time it is time for you to call it quits. You would have not only earned more than you could have asked for, the world will also admire you for your achievement and the integrity with which you have worked you way. The bonus is you would be the best you could have been. Your life would be a walk in the park and when obstacles do emerge, you will enjoy overcoming them. There would never be a moment when your head would hang low, in frustration, remorse or shame. You would never have to compromise on your ideals. It would be your way or the highway. You could do the seemingly most foolish thing but you will still conquer the world because once you have excelled at your trade, there will be no such thing as foolish.

But the challenge is to be able to do what you want. The challenge is also to muster the gut to follow your dream against all the naysayers which include your own doubts and fears. The world will throw up a thousand temptations to throw you off your path and if you don’t fall for them, they will try scaring you into their mould. Only a few of us ever manage to come out of this carrot and stick situation and that is why only a very few of us are able to do what we want and be excellent at it. I had chosen language (read English) as my field even though I could have opted for any other thing that every other people would be glad to have. My university years went without a moment of slog and I have had my moment under the sun. Things have now changed though.

So that brings you to the challenge of recognizing what it is that you want to do in the first place. You are never quite sure about that. One trick is to do what you are best at. That is what the God has put us on the world for. That is what would be our greatest service to the humanity. If you do that, the chances are that you could never go wrong. Then you could customize everything in your wake to your advantage, with joyous ease.

While multi-taking may seem the most reasonable, that is the safest bet in any case, you could never hope to leave a lasting mark, even if it is of use to somebody momentarily. But of course if multi-tasking is the thing that come most naturally to you, then you might as well pursue it to excellence. The trick for most of us is to know our calling and heed it.

On many occasions, it would seem that there is no limit to how much a man can do. Or we just pretend that we can and we ought to do a lot of things. True! But only if you enjoy what you are doing which is incumbent upon your choice of work in the first place. If you do what you want, you will enjoy what you do. There is no other way round to it. It is only a matter of time before fatigue hits you and you lose your stomach for the fight. In any case, you wouldn’t be able to bring your faculty of imagination and creativity into your handiwork. So what you get poor show in turn.

However, you would of course need to put the food on your family’s table and keep up with the Jones even if you could do without the gratification of a job well done. You would then fake it. Because you have already traded off your soul in choosing something for what is believed to be the proper course for a person, or because you were willing to play safe every time, you will think nothing about corruption. The only way a person who do not choose his calling can be successful is through corruption, of his soul and others’ resource.